Standalone Blog Pages

April 3, 2012

Willard Mitt Romney: Are Questions About His Mormon Faith Off-Limits?

Romney And The Mormon Church Better Fasten Their Seat Belts, It’s Going To Be A Very Bumpy Ride

Our
founding fathers made it clear that a “Christian” litmus test, was out
of bounds, and unconstitutional. With that being the case, is it fair to
ask a candidate about their religion?Willard
Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and a former Massachusetts governor, is running
to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States. A “Mormon” question sparked
a tense moment for Willard Mitt Romney, while moderating a town hall
meeting where he was taking questions from the audience. ABC news
reports:

A tense moment transpired during a town hall hosted by Mitt Romney today in Wisconsin when an audience member began reading verses from the Book of Mormon and questioned Romney on his stance on interracial relationships.

"OK,
well, in the Mormon book it says there were a blackness came upon all
the children of Canaan that they were despised," Hatch continued.

"I'm sorry we're just not going to have a discussion about religion in my view, but if you have a question, I'll be happy to answer your question," Romney said.

"I guess my question is do you believe it's a sin for a white man to marry and procreate with a black?" asked Hatch.

"No," Romney responded sternly, before turning to face the other side of the room.

I’ve
personally been struggling with this question myself, is it fair to ask
Romney questions about his faith? If questions about faith are
considered legitimate, what questions are fair and what questions are
off-limits?During
the 2008 campaign, the GOP made hay of the fact that candidate Obama’s
pastor at Trinity United Church in Chicago, Jeremiah Wright, made some
incendiary remarks about our country, and the 9/11 tragedy. If the same
standards apply to Willard Mitt Romney, then the Mormon church and their
controversial history, and checkered past, related to race and people
of color, and the subservience of women, magic underwear, the star of
Kolob, and reparative therapy for LGBT Mormons, will certainly be
examined in the context of the Presidential campaign.In
late February 2012, during a GOP debate, Romney said, "When you have 40
percent of kids being born out of wedlock, and among certain ethnic
groups the vast majority being born out of wedlock, you ask yourself,
how are we going to have a society in the future? Because these kids are
raised in poverty in many cases, they're in abusive settings. The
likelihood of them being able to finish high school or college drops
dramatically in single-family homes. And we haven't been willing to talk
about this." When New York Times Columnist Charles Blow heard this, he took to twitter and said:

"Let
me just tell you this Mitt 'Muddle Mouth': I'm a single parent and my
kids are *amazing*! Stick that in your magic underwear.”

Shortly thereafter, Charles Blow issued an apology. Some conservative pundits pontificated about how the news media shouldn’t mock the religious practices
of individuals, just because they disagreed with them politically, even
though that’s exactly what they did in the case of Jeremiah Wright.I
don’t necessarily want to mock anyone’s religious beliefs, but I do
want to question how being a Mormon will influence Romney if he was
elected President of the United States. When
the church decided to wade into California politics, and raised
millions of dollars to fight gay marriage, political observers took
notice. When Willard Mitt Romney’s Super PAC donated $10,000 dollarsto
the immoral National Organization for Marriage (NOM), it makes me
question Romney’s judgement. When
Romney points to his religious beliefs as an indication of who he is as
a person, and as a leader, isn’t it safe to assume that we will look at
candidate Romney’s record as governor - and we’re going to look at his
faith too?The
Mormon church has some very controversial and troubling views that I’d
normally say is none of my business. When a member of the Mormon church
says he wants to be our President, then I would say the teachings of the
church are now my business, and your business too.This
may be Romney’s first tense moment related to religion, and he’d better
fasten that seat belt, as it’s going to be a very bumpy ride.